OLYMPIA - A construction plan proposed Tuesday by Gov. Christine Gregoire would allow Washington State University to build a Pullman science lab that would support work at a bioproducts lab already planned for WSU Tri-Cities.

The university pressed the Legislature to include both projects in the two-year construction budget it approved in April. But while the $24 million bioproducts lab was included for WSU Tri-Cities, the now $63 million biotechnology and life sciences building slated for Pullman got passed over.

Unwilling to wait until the next two-year construction budget is written in 2007, WSU will ask lawmakers during their 2006 session beginning Jan. 9 to let it pay for the building itself.

The university would use interest off the money it gets from the harvesting and leasing of state trust lands it owns.

Though it's not a preferred method of getting buildings constructed, "this is a big enough deal to us," WSU lobbyist Larry Ganders said.

Gregoire, who pushed for the building during the 2005 session, bought into the plan.

"When it comes to agriculture in the eastern part of our state, if we don't invest in safety and quality we will lose our niche in the world," Gregoire said during a morning news conference, specifically mentioning the role for the Richland bioproducts facility. "All of this is, I think, the single greatest investment we can make."

The university is urgently pursuing construction of the Pullman biotech lab in part because it wants to present a strong case for getting research dollars offered by the state's new Life Sciences Discovery Fund.

That fund was created this year using a portion of annual payments from the state's settlement with the tobacco industry to pay for biomedical research.

While the Richland bioproducts lab is to focus on identifying ways to turnagricultural wastes into high-value chemicals, such as fuel, the proposed Pullman lab would focus on using agricultural products, such as barley, to develop new pharmaceutical products.

Much of the work would overlap and the two facilities likely would share faculty. "The sciences are kind of coming together," Ganders said. "There are very clear links there."

In addition, the new Pullman lab may attract the construction of an additional research facility by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Pullman. Yet another federal partner, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, already is collaborating with WSU Tri-Cities on the bioproducts lab.

The Pullman biotech project could be more politically palatable this legislative session because of the alternative financing scheme.

The state simply issues bonds to pay for most projects included in the state construction budget. But WSU is about to retire debt on two older renovation projects in Pullman built using interest earned off of its trust land proceeds. The university's plan is to simply commit that suddenly available revenue to pay for construction debt on the proposed lab.

The plan would cost the state's general fund nothing, the lab wouldn't have to compete with other construction projects, political fights could be avoided and the facility would get built sooner.

"I think the fact there is even a capital budget eases a lot of our concern," said Sen. Margarita Prentice, a Seattle Democrat and chairwoman of the budget writing Senate Ways and Means Committee. "I think (Gregoire's) goals there are really good."